[Laundrew]

During last evening's commute, Laundrew was enjoying a favourite album over the Civic's audio system. The Civic's sound system is stock and certainly leaves very much to be desired, but the 5.0 litres/100 kms certainly makes up for this deficiency. Anyway, listening to this album at low volume was actually inducing a very slight case of nausea because of the soggy bass, and it got to the point where it had to be shut off. Now please do not get me wrong as I do enjoy bass and with the 28's and the JBL's crisp and precisely produced bass, I can listen to this same album at higher volumes until the proverbial cows come home.

Soggy bass - has anyone else experienced these symptoms 

Be well...   

[HsvHeelFan]

Have I experienced those symptoms?  Yes...

Sounds like you need an audio upgrade for the car.

I don't think it's possible to replicate the Bryston - JBL sound you have at the house.  However, you should be able to improve the bass with some better amps and maybe a subwoofer setup.

In my former vehicle, I had an  Alpine head unit with Alpine 4x50w amps and an MTX 10" subwoofer system with an MTX amp.  Oh, I replaced all of the factory speakers with Polks.

It was a lot better than stock and made traveling much better.  Still not anywhere close to serious audiophile quality though.

You need to visit your local, reputable car audio specialist.   You should be able to get significantly better sound for 2 - 3K.

HsvHeelFan

[Devil Doc]

I went to a Blues Traveler concert recently where the bass could only be described as soggy and worse. It's too bad because they have a great bass player. It didn't make me sick, but it sure was annoying.

Doc

[redbook]

    Are we on to another new audio term? "Soggy", I love that . It certainly conjures up a mental image. Thanks, lets add it to "organic" and " musical" . Meanwhile I will go to my JBLs and hear some real bass.

[Laundrew]

    Are we on to another new audio term? "Soggy", I love that . It certainly conjures up a mental image. Thanks, lets add it to "organic" and " musical" . Meanwhile I will go to my JBLs and hear some real bass.

Redbook, we may just have something here   

"While this system certainly had a distinct organic, musical quality, the author could not help but notice a soggy bass response. Further auditions lasting over 54.2 hours, did indeed convince the listener that..."

 

Be well...

[jriggy]

The brown noise? 

[WBimmer]

I won't even turn my car stereo on as they all sound like crap no matter what you do or how much you spend.

I find there is just too much other noise from the engine, tires, exhaust, heating/ventilation system and other cars around you that pollute your environment inside the car and the car stereo ends up competing with all the other sounds and it just becomes overload on the senses.

Therefore I listen to my music at home and I listen to the music of the engine when I drive.

Works for me.

Wayne.

[spinner]

 Exactly what I feel as well

[Diamond Dog]

I won't even turn my car stereo on as they all sound like crap no matter what you do or how much you spend.

I find there is just too much other noise from the engine, tires, exhaust, heating/ventilation system and other cars around you that pollute your environment inside the car and the car stereo ends up competing with all the other sounds and it just becomes overload on the senses.

Therefore I listen to my music at home and I listen to the music of the engine when I drive.

Wayne.

I listen to more music in the car than I do at home because I spend a ridonculous amount of my life in my car. I can enjoy music in the car because I approach it with a whole different expectation of SQ. It kinda allows me to focus on the music in a different way than I do listening to the same music at home on the big rig.
My last vehicle was a Honda and the factory stereo was offensively bad ( speakers looked and sounded like something out of a clock radio ) so I had it yanked and replaced with something less bad. I don't think there's any good sound in a car, just varying degrees of bad. A friend I work with had an Acura with the multi-channel system that the auto journalists were all gaga over - I thought it was - well, meh....My current car has a factory system that is enough better than my Honda's was that I don't seriously think about upgrading. It's pretty tilted towards the bottom end- makes everything sound like Jay Z . Does make me really appreciate the system I've built at home, though. 

I can see why they can't keep a car audio circle alive here.

D.D.

[werd]

I used to spike this sub boxes for quicker bass from my trunk to front. Less soggy

[redbook]

  I don't doubt that at all . That would certainly "dry "things up to hi fi standards   ....................................... .....

[Elizabeth]

I 'upgraded one and only one car stereo in my life. i would never bother to do it again.
For the few minutes i drive.. the money is a total waste. Usually I just do NOT listen to anything music or talk while driving. I drive. period.
Soggy bass IS disgusting. The folks with horrid but LOUD booming bass in junk-heap cars are insane.

[spinner]

  Not to mention possible hearing damage. :

[JeffB]

I have a Honda Fit Sport 2009.  I think the standard stereo system that comes with this car is quite good.  There is some amount of hash that I think comes from the preamp or the amp.  There is no sub, but the four 6" drivers provide adequate bass.  It is not soggy at all.  Everything I play on it sounds good, so I don't have to skip half my catalog for the perfect recording.  The cross-over between the woofer and tweeter seems flawless to me.  I have listened to an awful lot of high end home systems that I don't like as well.  I can also pretty much say the same thing about the system in my previous car, a 2002 Sentra SE-R Spec-V, and it had a standard 8" subwoofer in the truck which gave it a little better low end.  If the rear windows are down in my Fit, it creates an absolutely horrid wind vibration noise that one might actually describe as soggy bass, and probably would make you ill after a while.  I recently had a Ford Escape rental car.  The audio system in this car was shrill and totally unlistenable for me.

[spinner]

  The whole idea of really good sound in vehicle is limited. You will never escape the noise floor element no matter how fine the system is.

[tim92gts]

At least in a car you can set up so you're always in the sweet spot.
I put a Pioneer system in mine with a decent sub and it is a lot better than stock.

Of course we should really be concentrating on the driving rather than the music
but it can make long journeys more fun. I used to do a 500 mile weekly commute
and actually looked forward to getting in the car on Fridays. Getting back in at 3am
on Monday wasn't quite as good.

[Laundrew]

I 'upgraded one and only one car stereo in my life. i would never bother to do it again.
For the few minutes i drive.. the money is a total waste. Usually I just do NOT listen to anything music or talk while driving. I drive. period.
Soggy bass IS disgusting. The folks with horrid but LOUD booming bass in junk-heap cars are insane.

At the end of the day, car audio is of no interest to Laundrew - if the album sounds awful in the car it simply will not be played. Ironically, while stopped at an intersection yesterday, one of those very loud booming - soggy bass, cars pulled up beside me. This fine individual was playing rap music and during the time it required for the traffic lights to cycle, Laundrew could not believe the pure hate, violence and racist slurs from this so called artist. If Laundrew uttered 1% of what he heard from that CD in public, the Ontario Human Rights commission would lock him up and throw away the keys. Ahhh, the tainted, leftist beauty and hypocrisy of the double standard.

Be well...

[Russell Dawkins]

At the end of the day, car audio is of no interest to Laundrew - if the album sounds awful in the car it simply will not be played. Ironically, while stopped at an intersection yesterday, one of those very loud booming - soggy bass, cars pulled up beside me. This fine individual was playing rap music and during the time it required for the traffic lights to cycle, Laundrew could not believe the pure hate, violence and racist slurs from this so called artist. If Laundrew uttered 1% of what he heard from that CD in public, the Ontario Human Rights commission would lock him up and throw away the keys. Ahhh, the tainted, leftist beauty and hypocrisy of the double standard.
Be well...

Off your meds, Laundry?

[Laundrew]

Off your meds, Laundry?

Nope, no meds - its just that the voice in the back of my head has been extremely quiet lately and I find it somewhat unsettling.

Be well...